THIS WEEKEND The
worldwide protests against remakes came out in full force this weekend
as the robot boxers of Real Steel squeaked
out a victory over the 80s remakes of Footloose
and The Thing, while the weekend's
other new release The Big Year crashed
and burned. Overall the box office dropped nearly 34% from last year.

Holding on for a second straight weekend at the top of the charts was
the Hugh Jackman robot boxing family drama Real
Steel which fell a respectable 40% from last weekend to $16.3M,
according to final studio figures,
bringing its total to $51.7M. With two more weeks before Puss
in Boots comes gunning for the family audience, a final in the
$90-100M range is likely, with that century mark a definite possibility.

The heavily hyped remake Footloose
landed in second place this weekend with $15.6M from 3,549 dance halls,
for a per screen average of a so-so $4,383. The film opened at number one
on Friday, but lost steam as the weekend went along and families came out
to see Real Steel, which was on top
on Saturday and Sunday. With a CinemaScore of an astounding A, it seems
the people who actually went out to see Footloose
really liked it, but getting past the stigma of remaking a beloved 80s
classic was apparently a bit too much to overcome for Paramount.

Another 80s remake landed with a thud in third place as Universal's
horror flick The Thing grossed $8.5M
from 2,996 screens, for a per screen average of a very sad $2,835. Other
horror remakes have done reasonably well with tremendously front-loaded
opening weekends before falling apart (Friday
the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street
to name a couple) but it seems the name recognition of The
Thing didn't have quite the cachet of the others. With a CinemaScore
of a B-, expect The Thing to see quick
trip to DVD.

Holdovers took the next five spots on the charts, each falling less
than 33% from last weekend. Fourth place belonged to George Clooney with
his political thriller The Ides of March
which dropped a slim 32% in its second weekend to $7.1M, bringing its cume
to $21.8M. A final in the $50M range seems likely unless it manages to
pick up a bunch of year-end awards, at which point the idea of a re-release
(or re-expansion) seems likely to happen which could push its total higher.
Fifth place went to the dolphin tale Dolphin Tale,
which took in $6.2M bringing its total to $58.6M. And the film it's been
running neck and neck with since their openings last month came in close
behind in sixth as Moneyball took in
$5.5M seeing its total rise to $57.7M

Two tales of courage took seventh and eighth this weekend. The cancer
dramedy 50/50 had the lowest drop in
the top ten, falling only 25% to $4.3M, bringing its cume to $24.3M. And
the religious-themed Courageous held
on well in its third weekend, falling 32% to $3.3M, bringing its total
to $21.3M for distributor Sony.

We had to take out a pair of binoculars to see the Steve Martin/Owen
Wilson/Jack Black comedy The Big Year
on the charts, but there it is, tucked into ninth place this weekend with
$3.3M from 2,150 screens, for a dismal per screen average of $1,513. With
a CinemaScore of a B- this is another film that won't last very long in
theaters. Apparently it's not just sequels and remakes that people are
protesting against.

Rounding out the top ten was the animated mega-hit The
Lion King which roared its way to $2.8M in the fifth weekend
of its two-week limited release. Its total for the re-release is $90.5M
with its overall total now at $419.1M, putting it at number nine on the
all-time blockbuster list, just ahead of Disney stablemate Toy
Story 3 ($415M in 2010) and just behind yet another Disney film,
2006's Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
($423.3M).

Outside of the top ten, Sony Picture Classics had a limited release
for the Pedro Almodovar thriller The Skin I Live
In starring Antonio Banderas. Released on only 6 screens, the
film grossed $223,119 for a scorching per screen average of $37,187.

The top ten films grossed $72.7M which was down 38% from last year when
Jackass 3D opened in the top spot with
a new October record of $50.4M; and down 42% from 2009 when Where
the Wild Things Are debuted at number one with $32.7M.

Compared to projections, Footloose,
The Thing and The
Big Year all debuted below Gitesh's respective predictions of
$20M, $13M and $6M.

Get earlier box office updates and analysis by following BoxOfficeGuru.com
on Twitter.

Be sure to check back on Thursday for a complete summary, including
projections, for next weekend when two sequels and a remake open in the
forms of Johnny English Reborn, Paranormal
Activity 3 and The Three Musketeers.

This column is updated three times each week:
Thursday
(upcoming weekend's summary), Sunday
(post-weekend analysis with estimates), and Monday
night (actuals). Opinions expressed in this column are those solely of
the author.